Indiana game anomaly, not cause for panic

BLOOMINGTON -- Don't touch the panic button.

That's a message for Michigan fans after Tuesday night's 99-83 loss at the hands of the Indiana Hoosiers.

The Wolverines' loss hurt them, no question. It dropped them to third place in the Big Ten; it may well have hurt their confidence.

The road ahead of Michigan is a tough one. To compete for the Big Ten, sophomore Maurice Taylor needs to rediscover the dominance he displayed early in the season. Forwards Albert White and Willie Mitchell need to hit their shots. The Wolverine big men need to quit traveling on every third post move.

But these are not reasons for Michigan fans to hibernate the rest of the winter. Losing to the Hoosiers isn't exactly great for the Wolverines, but they shouldn't abandon the campaign just yet. Here's why:

Losing in Assembly Hall is no shame. Before Maceo Baston came calling in Bloomington last year, Indiana coach Bob Knight's troops had won 50 consecutive games on their home court.

Assembly Hall is not exactly visitor-friendly. The Hoosier fans stuff its mammoth confines -- 17,169 showed up Tuesday -- and nearly to a man, they wear red. The Wolverines' dark blue uniforms were striking, standing out as they did against the sea of crimson -- about the only things there not painted red.

The fans are raucous -- and that's reflected in the Hoosiers' home court dominance. There was no way they were going to let Michigan beat them two years in a row at their place.

- There are few college teams that could have beaten Indiana Tuesday night. Blame the Wolverines for leaving guard Neil Reed open a little too much -- but who thought he would shoot 8-of-11 from behind the arc? Besides, Michigan couldn't exactly cover Reed at the expense of leaving 6-foot-8 forward Brian Evans open. Evans' game was his best as a Hoosier, according to Knight; the sharp-shooting senior nailed three of his four 3-point attempts, he grabbed eight rebounds, he dished 11 assists, and hit tough, guarded shots inside and out.

And the Todd Lindeman who showed up Tuesday was not the one who was destroyed by Michigan State's not-so-vaunted frontline. With Baston and Taylor in early foul trouble, Lindeman played what Michigan coach Steve Fisher termed a "career game;" he was, frankly, a different, tougher player.

"It was more them playing well than us not playing well," Fisher said, and he was right: Indiana just got up on the right side of the bed for the first time this season.

- Louis Bullock is already a force in the Big Ten. Seven threes in 11 attempts? Bullock is among the Big Ten's two or three most dangerous 3-point threats -- with him firing outside, the Wolverines will usually get more out of their big men than they did Tuesday.

So the Indiana game was an anomaly, a freak amazing game from Knight's squad. It's no reason for the Wolverines to panic, despite their two conference losses. The Big Ten champion will almost surely have three or more losses.

Lose Saturday at Iowa, however, and the Wolverines can start panicking.

-- Brent McIntosh can be reached over e-mail at mctosh@umich.edu.

Letters to the editor should be sent to

daily.letters@umich.edu

Comments about this site should be addressed to

online.daily@umich.edu